not be compared to theirs. One by one they slipped away, and the
four girls were left alone.

"Oh, Aunt Jane's poll parrot, do say something," Sally said at last.
There were tears in her voice, and the girls were quick to notice them.

"Oh, Sally, why didn't you tell us?" Phyllis asked.

"Didn't get a chance," Sally replied; "and anyway I couldn't somehow."

Janet put her hand over her friend's and squeezed it. There was
nothing to say.

"It's--it's all wrong,"--there was more feeling in Daphne's voice than
her usual drawl permitted.

The bell fell on their silence a minute later.

It was not until the study hour was almost over that Phyllis realized
that Muriel had not come. Sally's news had completely swamped all
other thoughts. She put up the lid of her desk and under its cover
slipped a note back to Janet. She read it and passed it to Sally, who
shook her head and looked puzzled.

"Hope she isn't sick," she whispered.

Muriel did not arrive until study hour was over, and the girls were
chatting in the ten-minute interval.

"Hello!" Phyllis greeted her as she slipped into her seat. One look at
her face made her add:

"Why, what is the matter?"

Muriel's eyes were red and swollen, and she looked as though she had
been crying for hours. Phyllis did not show as much concern as she
might have, for it was a well-known fact that Muriel cried very easily.

At Phyllis's question, she buried her head in her arms and started to
sob.

"Something terrible has happened," she managed to say. "I'm so nervous
I simply can't stop crying. I've been interviewed by policemen and
detectives all morning and I am frightened to death."

Phyllis put her arm around her consolingly.

"But what has happened, dear? Tell us," she begged.

"Oh, it's too terrible for words!" Muriel was certainly prolonging the
agony.

"What is?" Sally demanded sharply.

"Chuck's little cousin has been kidnapped!" It was out, and Muriel
looked up long enough to judge the effect on her hearers and then fell
to sobbing again.

Phyllis felt something in her throat contract.

"Little Don?" she asked.

"Yes, and, oh, dear, just because I'd seen him in the park yesterday I
had to answer all kinds of questions, and I'm all nervous and tired
out."

The girls looked at the crumpled heap in disgust. It was like the
Muriel of this year to insist on being the central figure.

They went back to their desks in thoughtful silence.

P